Browsing: Sikh

When Sheena Iyengar went to Spain, people sometimes came up and asked her for a lottery ticket. “Because that is what blind people do in Spain,” she explains. “They sell lottery tickets. And when I was in Japan, random people would come up to me and take my hands and start putting them on their backs or on their necks because they expect blind people to perform magical massages.”

These people would have been stunned to learn that though Iyengar is blind, she is a noted researcher, a professor at Columbia and the author of a critically acclaimed book ‘The Art of Choosing’, in which she dissects and analyzes choice – the ability one has to take on destiny – or even competing brands of cola.

In life, how much can you choose and how much is pre-destined? Can you fight circumstances or is your role pre-ordained?And if you have the power of choice, how do you choose wisely?

What can you, an immigrant who came with nothing but a battered suitcase filled with bits and pieces of a disappeared life, offer this new country? What gift can you give America on its Independence Day celebration? A Punjabi immigrant love story.

If the Pilgrim Fathers revisited America this year, they would certainly be amazed by the aromas, tastes and colors of the diverse Thanksgiving table. New York is, of course, one of the most diverse cities in the U.S. and its residents trace their roots to hundreds of countries and ethnicities. Each immigrant family brings its own culture and food habits and incorporates them into the Thanksgiving meal.

As we, the New Americans, mature and root ourselves further in the sacred and secular landscape of America, we see a need to build national and local organizations focusing on serving — with Seva Bhava — contemporary needs of our growing community and the community at large.
Seva or service is an integral part of our culture and traditions, an inside-out approach to life. Many individuals and organizations volunteer and serve in soup kitchens, shelters, health camps, and disaster relief. But few Dharmic – Hindu, Jain,Sikh, Buddhist – institutions have the capacity to provide sustained social services and do seva as is prevalent in other faith based institutions in America. GUEST BLOG

He’s designed togs for Jay Sean, Fugitive, Mumzy Stranger, Juggy D, Ameet Chana, Bikram Singh and several other musicians and actors. Now he’s designing for the new film ‘London Town’ and soon the staff of Bloombury Hotel in London will be wearing uniforms styled by him.

Meet Saran Kohli, 24, a fashion designer from London who translates musicality into a fashion statement with an urban collection of menswear launching in New York.